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Nibali completes Tour triumph

Vincenzo Nibali will chase the world champion's rainbow jersey after completing a hat-trick of Grand Tour victories by winning the 101st Tour de France in Paris on Sunday.

Vincenzo Nibali has become only the sixth rider in history to have won all three Grand Tours

The Italian, winner of the 2010 Vuelta a Espana and 2013 Giro d'Italia, became the sixth rider to win all three Grand Tours, after Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Alberto Contador.

Now the 29-year-old is targeting the rainbow jersey.

"After winning the Vuelta, the Giro and the Tour, I'll keep focusing on Grand Tours but I'd also like to crown it all with a rainbow jersey one year," said Nibali, who does not believe this September's circuit in Ponferrada, Spain suits him.

Nibali (Astana) wore the fabled maillot jaune for 18 of the Tour's 21 race days, having first taken the race lead on day two in Sheffield with his first of four stage victories.

He is the first Italian winner of the Tour since Marco Pantani in 1998.

"It's very difficult to make a comparison between Pantani's victory and my victory, because Marco won his in the last week, two days before the end," Nibali said.

"For me it's the contrary - I had the yellow jersey on my back after two days."

Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) won the final stage on the Champs-Elysees for a second successive year to bookend the race after his opening stage win in Harrogate. Germans won seven of the 21 stages.

The 37-year-old Peraud and 24-year-old Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) finished second and third to ensure there were two Frenchmen on the Tour podium for the first time since 1984, when Laurent Fignon won ahead of Hinault.

"The Vuelta was perhaps the most important competition because it gave me the strength to go into the Giro and the Tour in the following years," Nibali added.

"The Giro was an important competition for the Italian public. Within the context of the Tour de France it's something even greater than the Giro. It's a more emotional, intense moment."

Nibali was seventh in traditional Tour warm-up the Criterium du Dauphine, leaving some to question whether he would challenge in the Tour.

"The first part of the season was very difficult," Nibali added.

"My daughter was born - I'm not saying it's a problem, of course it's a great source of happiness - and I preferred to stay with my family, my wife and it slowed down my preparation.

"I was a bit late in maturing this season, but I still continued to believe in reaching this objective, the Tour."

Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) won the Dauphine, but endured a difficult Tour, abandoning after a torrid time.